French ship Dixmude (L9015)

BPC Dixmude in Jounieh bay, Lebanon 2012.
History
France
Name	Dixmude
Namesake	Fusiliers Marins at the battle of Diksmuide[2]
Builder	Chantiers de Saint-Nazaire
Cost	€451.6m[3] (FY 2012)
Laid down	20 January 2010 at Saint-Nazaire[2]
Launched	17 September 2010[1]
Commissioned	27 December 2012
Homeport	Toulon
Identification	Pennant number: L9015 MMSI number: 228784000 Callsign: FADX Deck Code: DX
Status	in active service
General characteristics
Class and type	Mistral-class amphibious assault ship
Displacement	16,500 t (empty) 21,300 t (full load) 32,300 t (with ballast)
Length	199 m (653 ft)
Beam	32 m (105 ft)
Draught	6.3 m (21 ft)
Installed power	4 × Wärtsilä 16V32 (4 × 6.2 MW (8,300 hp))
Propulsion	Diesel-electric; two Rolls-Royce Mermaid azimuth thrusters (2 × 7 MW (9,400 hp)) with 5-bladed fixed pitch propellers
Speed	18.8 knots (34.8 km/h; 21.6 mph)
Range	5,800 nautical miles (10,800 km) at 18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph) 10,700 nautical miles (19,800 km) at 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph)
Capacity	2 barges, one Leclerc battalion, 70 vehicles
Complement	20 officers 80 petty officers 60 quarter-masters 450 passengers (900 for a short cruise) 150-man operational headquarter
Armament	2 × Simbad missile systems 2 x 20 mm modèle F2 gun[4] 2 × 30 mm Breda-Mauser autocannons 2 x 7.62 × 51 mm M134 miniguns 4 × 12.7 mm M2-HB Browning machine guns
Aircraft carried	16 heavy or 35 light helicopters

Dixmude (L9015) is an amphibious assault ship, a type of helicopter carrier, of the French Navy. She is the third vessel to bear the name, and is the third ship of the Mistral class.

Dixmude was delivered to the French defence procurement agency on 3 January 2012, three months ahead of schedule.^[5]

Service history[edit]

In January 2013, Dixmude took part in Operation Serval, ferrying elements of the 92^ème Régiment d'Infanterie to Mali.^[6]

In April 2016, it was announced she would be part of the Anglo-French military exercise CJEX.^[7]

In July 2018, the ship docked in Haifa port, Israel for a joint exercise with the Israeli Navy.^[8]

In October 2018, a French NH90 crashed on takeoff when mooring lashing was left tied, and this damaged the flight deck.^[9] The crash occurred at night, leaving 4 injured and 1 required medical evacuation.^[9]

In April 2020, the ship operated as part of a joint British, French and Dutch naval task force in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, in overseas territories in the Caribbean. RFA Argus was also present as the UK's commitment to supporting British Overseas Territories along with HMS Medway as the Caribbean guard ship.^[10]

In February 2023, Dixmude was tasked to initiate an around the world deployment accompanied by the frigate La Fayette. The deployment was to involve a series of exercises and port calls en route, including at several French overseas territories. For the deployment, Dixmude embarked one of the new EDA-S landing craft, along with one EDA-R and one CTM landing craft.^[11] The two vessels returned to Toulon in July.^[12]

References[edit]

Further reading[edit]

• Moulin, Jean (2020). Tous les porte-aéronefs en France: de 1912 à nos jours [All the Aircraft Carriers of France: From 1912 to Today]. Collection Navires et Histoire des Marines du Mond; 35 (in French). Le Vigen, France: Lela Presse. ISBN 978-2-37468-035-4.

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